LORD STANLEYMy Lords, since our last meeting in this place intelligence of an important character as to the affairs of Greece has reached this country—intelligence to which I am anxious to call the attention of the noble Marquess opposite. We have learned, my Lords, by means of the usual organs of public communication—and we have reason to believe that the information thus given to the public is not inaccurate—we have learned, I say, that the good offices of France in attempting to arrange the differences between the Government of Great Britain and that of Greece have not led to a satisfactory termination—that the French Minister has withdrawn from the negotiations—that, in consequence of his withdrawal, coercive measures of an extraordinary character have been resorted to by the British Minister and the British Admiral on the station—and that under the pressure of those coercive measures the Greek Government has submitted to the terms which we have imposed upon her, and which a British fleet has been sent to enforce. I hope, my Lords, that Her Majesty's Ministers will immediately lay before us all the official information which they may have received as to all the circumstances connected with this transaction, and especially as to the circumstances which rendered the interference of the French Government abortive, and led to the retirement of the French Minister. But, be that as it may, whether that information be given to or withheld from us, I take the earliest opportunity of giving notice, that at an early period after Whitsuntide recess I shall call your attention, my Lords, to all the circumstances of this most unfortunate transaction.
§ The MARQUESS of LANSDOWNEI can assure the noble Baron, that all the information we have respecting this transaction shall be submitted forthwith to the I inspection and judgment of Parliament. But, as the noble Baron has referred to the unfortunate rupture of the negotiations, although such negotiations finally led to a very satisfactory and successful result, I may be permitted to avail myself of this the earliest opportunity to say, that the rupture in the negotiations occurred in consequence of the French negotiator having 1375 broken them off on a single point, and that that rupture would have been prevented had the later instructions sent out from England arrived in Greece three or four days earlier. The result of that rupture was that hostilities were again resorted to; but the Greek Government, having then desired to know the terms on which we were prepared to receive satisfaction, and to resume terms of friendliness and peace, was directly informed by our Minister, Mr. Wyse, what those terms were; and the noble Baron opposite, and all others in this House, will hear, I am persuaded, with unmixed satisfaction, that Mr. Wyse, acting under his instructions, thought that the moment had at last arrived when he could make it manifest to Greece and manifest to the whole world that the object of our hostility was to assert a principle, and not to bear hardly on the resources of Greece. Mr. Wyse did this in the exercise of a just moderation, which has met the high approbation of the Government at home. He so far relaxed in his demands that on the very first moment in which Greece evinced a disposition fairly to meet our demands, he offered her terms, to which Greece subsequently acceded, differing indeed in form, but not very different in substance, from those on which the Minister of France had negotiated with us, and which he deemed to be just and equitable. When those terms are laid on the table, it will be seen that they only differ in one point from those approved by the French Minister, and that point is favourable to Greece; so that, in the exercise of its free discretion Greece has obtained terms in a pecuniary sense much better than those which the French Minister here deemed her entitled to. This statement will, I am sure, be heard with satisfaction by all those who think with me that a strong State in dealing with a weak State ought not to presume on account of its strength, but that when it can obtain that, which even the weakness of its adversary is not entitled to refuse on the score of justice, it should be content, and should abstain from urging its claims further. That principle being once admitted, it may be prepared to relax its claims, if it be deemed expedient, and may proceed to treat with it on terms not merely of fairness but of indulgence. It would have been a satisfaction to me, my Lords, if the accommodation with Greece, at which we have arrived at last, had been 1376 brought about by the assistance and concurrence of the French Government; for I am bound to admit that during all these transactions the French Government has exerted itself most actively to bring about an amicable accommodation between ourselves and Greece. It was owing to an accident of the winds, which occasioned a delay of three or four days, that that accommodation was not brought about by the instrumentality of the French Government; but, not having been so brought about, it is a satisfaction to me to think that it has been concluded on terms nearly the same in substance, though different in form, with those which that Government suggested and thought to be correct.
LORD STANLEYWhen these papers shall be laid on the table, your Lordships will be more able to judge how far they warrant the self-congratulation in which the noble Marquess has indulged respecting them. It seems to me most unfortunate that this case should again be productive of disappointment, owing to the delay of three or four days in the transmission of intelligence. It is somewhat strange, too, that the same misfortune should occur twice in these negotiations—once at their commencement, and once again at their close. The noble Marquess must have a strange idea of free exercise of discretion by the Greek Government when he applies such a phrase to its submission to terms dictated under a threat of bombardment by the fleet of the moat powerful maritime nation in Europe.
§ The MARQUESS of LANSDOWNEThe threat of bombarding the Piræus—just adverted to by the noble Lord—is entirely an assumption of his own.
§ Subject dropped.